Anyone watching Lou Dobbs? This Berg thing is getting explosive

[CatWoman]

His father didn't support the war, but Berg did.

His dad sued the Pentagon to get the son released. There was no reason for him being detained.

The Pentagon says they didn't even hold him -- the family has emails proving that to be a lie.

[Nlighten1]

1. Well, well, well...

I hope they release those emails.

[zonmoy]

7. I doubt they will

if they do they will either be suicided or disappear.

[goodhue]

2. Berg worked at night on a Abu Ghraib tower!

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/133/world/Questions_surround_young_Ameri:.shtml

* * *

Berg was inspecting communications facilities, some of which were destroyed in the war or by looters.

During his time in Iraq, he struggled with the Arabic language and worked at night on a tower in Abu Ghraib, a site of repeated attacks on U.S. convoys and the location of the notorious prison where U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi inmates.

His father, Michael Berg, told the AP that Michael's sister, now dead, married an Iraqi man named Mudafer, who became close to Nicholas. In one of the e-mails, Nicholas Berg describes going to the northern city of Mosul, where he introduced himself to Mudafer's brother, identified as Moffak Mustaffa.

''We got along splendidly,'' Berg wrote. ''We spent a few hours and I helped him establish an e-mail account.''

* * *

[Fleshdancer]

9. HE WORKED ON AN ABU GHRAIB TOWER

how weird can this thing get??

[DoNotRefill]

34. I have to shake my head in wonder...

Anybody ever hear of Fort Leavenworth? There's a military prison there. People who work in Leavenworth on commo towers don't necessarily work on the base, much less in the prison, just as people who live in Norfolk don't live or work in the Norfolk NAS.

[sundancekid]

16. OMG, this story sure has legs, as they say ... brave family to speak out

and, of course, the b* folks just announced on Lou Dobbs that "there will be a full investigation" ... aren't they running out of cloaks yet?

[Tinoire]

36. Hang on to your hats ok? He took PHOTOS

now that the part about Abu-Ghaibr is out, this is the perfect opening to post this.

Where they afraid he had photos of crimes in the prison's courtyard? Or other incriminating photos?

Found this a little earlier:

From: "oldtowerguy" <oldtowerguy@y...>
Date: Wed May 12, 2004 12:49 pm
Subject: About Nick Berg


John and group. I copied this message from another board. John, I
believe you know which one. I thought this was a great insight to the
young man and his dedication. It was written by Mark Humphry.

Gary

BEGIN:
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 12:35:16 -0400
From: "Mark Humphrey" <mark@y...>
Subject: Remembering Nick (was Why was Nick in Iraq?)

The tragic news about Nick Berg's murder hit very close to home, as I
had known him for about two years and we hired him for several
recent projects -- in fact, he installed an auxiliary antenna for WPLY in
February, just before heading back to Iraq. Perhaps I can shed some
light on this situation.

<snip>

Why did he go to Iraq?

He was aware that some towers were damaged last year during bombing
missions, and many more had been looted... copper lines removed,
diagonal members taken out, etc. Few obstruction lighting systems
were functional -- he mentioned an 800 foot tower two miles from an
airport (used by our military) that was totally dark. So he first went over
in December to see if he could help to assist in the reconstruction,
restore Iraq's broadcast services, and repair the serious structural
damage that endangered the lives of their citizens.

I received the following email message from Nick in early January:

>About Iraq-

>I am taking photos - where allowed. It's actually pretty sad - I just
>got off one of two 320 meter monster towers in Abu Gharib (also home
>to the main political prison) which use to support most of Baghdad
>area's VHF and UHF.
>Both have been badly looted, including 4000 feet or more of flexible
>6-1/8" heliax, two full 12X4 panel TV antennas, and even some
>structural members. I was also in the North as I mentioned, but here there
>wasn't as much damage. I'll definitely share some of these pix with
>you and others next time I'm in the area - I'd love to put together a
>little presentation for SBE or PAB in about six monthes after I've
>been on every site and fixed some of them.

He returned to Philadelphia in late January to catch up on some
domestic business -- then in early February, tackled an antenna
replacement job at our aux site, which he had quoted last summer.

<snip>

If you've been following all sides of this story, you may have read
that his parents did not receive much cooperation from OUR Federal
Government when trying to learn his whereabouts, which is very
disturbing. He had reportedly booked a March 30 flight back to New
York, but missed it because he had been detained by our military.
Today's "spin" on the story is that they told him to get out, but I'm
not buying that.

Let's keep his family in our thoughts and prayers. Our industry (and
humanity) has lost a very fine person.

Mark

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Tower-pro/message/19463

[Fleshdancer]

3. and I just read this new article....

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/133/world/Questions_surround_young_Ameri:.shtml


on edit: after writing this post I found out that I was too slow! Post #2 links to the same story so I'll just consider this a kick because everyone needs to read this article.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. what do the e-mails say?

what are the addresses?

[CatWoman]

5. Berg was being held. The dad sued. Berg was released.

the Pentagon says he wasn't held -- but Berg emailed his parents after his release.

[bolokshi]

6. Oh, thats why the FBI has changed their tone

:7 The Saga Continues..........

[No2W2004]

8. it is a lie

the coalition says it didn't have him, the Iraqi police had him

The Iraqi police is RUN by the coalition

AP called the police station...no one there remembered Berg even being there at all.

The coalition spokesperson is lying. Berg was held by the coalition for 13 days. His family sued the govt. for his release. He was released the following day.

They are playing word games here, but why? Why do they not want us to know that the Coaliton had Berg for 13 days?

[Sweatynipples]

10. Lies?

Just because the family has emails does not mean this whole thing is a lie. I'm sure his captures had internet access and could have forced him to send responses to his parents. That is much more feasible than some conspiracy theory you all are stirring up.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

11. at this point

taking the BFEE at their word would be an exercise in stupidity. What reason has the BFEE given us to believe one goddamned thing they say?

[GWBrips]

12. Going out on a very big and imagined limb!

Hello, Earth to secret agent 00Kerry!

[arcane1]

35. question

do you post anything but insults, talking points, and phony macho b.s.?

just curious

welcome to DU

[CatWoman]

13. go dry your nipples

they are desecrating my keyboard.

same as your faulty logic.

[Sweatynipples]

20. uhh

Alright don't blast me, I thought they were coming from Berg himself. If they are coming from the pentagon...well.... that is a completely different story. Release them immediately if this is the case!

[CatWoman]

22. ....

http://kyw.com/Local%20News/local_story_133170949.html

[ThatPoetGuy]

14. Not e-mails from HIM....

the family has e-mails from the Pentagon.

Or did Abul and Berg's other captors kidnap the Pentagon and force them to send e-mails?

[LittleApple81]

15. You really think this administration is honest. Sorry for you. I don't

know what is going on, but questions are starting to crop up about this... and it does not smell good.

[yardwork]

17. Aren't you the poster who brought us the purported video last night?

You arrived last night, a brand-new poster on DU, who just happened to have THE video hours after its release.

And now you are accusing us of stirring up a conspiracy theory?

And your name is offensive, imo.

[Sweatynipples]

21. im sorry

Wow you say one mistaken response on these boards and you get blasted from members within seconds.

[Robbien]

23. If you want to be taken seriously

You shouldn't post right wing type posts using their standard "conspiracy theory" smear.

[yardwork]

24. If you want to be taken seriously, change your posting name.

I'm serious.

Edit: This is directed to "sweatynipples," of course.

[Robbien]

26. Thanks for the edit, I am kinda attached to my screen name.

Would hate to think it would be considered by some to be sillier than the name sweatynipples.

[Sweatynipples]

25. ..

Conspiracy: "An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action"

Theory: "An assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture"

I think right wingers use something like "crazy consipracy theories." Obviously this is a theory so far, limited information is available to us and drawing conclusions is difficult. I think a conspiracy theory fits perfectly.

[ThatPoetGuy]

27. Hi Sweatynipples!

Don't take it personally, please! This is a great site but sometimes it gets infiltrated by nutty right-wingers; so people around here are justifiably suspicious of newcomers who only have a few posts to their name. Stick around and you'll receive less suspicion, eventually.

A little less, anyway. ;)

Welcome to DU!! :hi:

[jrthin]

30. I agree with your sentiment.

Further, you are dead on, that name is offensive.

[sundancekid]

18. right! you are right, aren't you????

and captors can also write e-mails backwards in time 3 months ...
:wtf:

[Blasphemer]

19. More feasible?

How so? Why would his captors make him send such an email? At this point, without knowing what's in the e-mail, I have to defer to his family's judgement. I'm sure they would have picked up on it if something seemed "off" in his communications with them.

[wildwww2]

33. Bu$h da squatter`s war crime is no conspiracy theory. It is real.

And based on lies. Too bad there are not good jobs in the United States. That man might not have thought to risk his ass. In the middle of a pre-emptive war crime. If he had a good job in his own country. As he probably had before the Supreme Court installed a warmongerer.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[robbedvoter]

28. "Nick died for the sins of the Bush administration,"

" Michael Berg said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press
They also have the e-mail exchange.

[Fleshdancer]

29. Excerpts from Berg's emails:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21951-2004May12.html

SUNDAY, Jan. 4, 12:44 p.m.

I am well here in Iraq - for the last two days I have been in and around Mosul (Northern Iraq, on the outskirts of Kurdistan) which is a welcome break from the smog and crowds of Baghdad. Of course Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, is crowded and smoggy too, but at least we're only 20 kilometers from some bona fide hills and open space. ...

Tomorrow (Monday) I'll inspect a site in Sinjar (west of Mosul, towards the Syrian frontier and as close as I'll ever come to Syria). Then I'm back to Baghdad to hire our local business manager and hopefully get on two 1000' towers outside of Baghdad at Abu Ghreb (the site of a notorious prison for Army and political prisoners). So I am reasonably confident we can score some work out of this. It's treacherous, though - there are so many parties involved in this work and they all subcontract to people and none of them are specialists like us. ...

Mosul is very calm - except for the Army convoys and checkpoints, you can't really tell there is an occupation. Baghdad every night you here IEDs and such, but here I've yet to here or see anything except a few aged craters. Still, there is obviously quite a difference to someone who lives here and will face the same people and situations day in and day out. ...

Another thing that's tough for me is the language - in Bantu languages the accents are easier to pick up and there are more vowels. Arab is a very intricate language with very fine accents and tons of consonants. So as much as I know the right words and can understand some of them being spoken, I can't say them worth a damn to the fellow who doesn't understand English (about 95% of the people I meet).

[w13rd0]

31. Consider this...

...he helped an Iraqi set up an e-mail account...
...though a Bush supporter, he was given to humanitarian efforts...
...he worked on a communication tower at Abu Ghraib...
...he was a tech...
...he was held by the US, but not charged, but now they say they never held him, the Iraqi police did...
...but the Iraqi police said they didn't...
...death squads from Pinochets Chile and South African apartheid regime are employed in Iraq...
...we're currently investigating horrific abuses, the kind someone might kill to cover-up for...
...somehow photos and video got into the hands of the US media...
...his father is anti-war...

So many questions, so few answers.

[newsguyatl]

32. ...

>>...but the Iraqi police said they didn't<<

have they?

[w13rd0]

37. Yes, the Mosul Iraqi police...

...claim they didn't have Berg in custody. Contradicting the DoDs claim and the FBI. It's all a mish-mash of bad information it seems.

[DU GrovelBot]

38. ## Support Democratic Underground! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v2.0
==================
 
The time now is 7:41:26PM EDT, Wednesday, May 12, 2004.
 
There are exactly...
4 days,
4 hours,
18 minutes, and
34 seconds left in our fund drive.
 
This website could not survive without your generosity. Member donations 
pay for more than 84% of the Democratic Underground budget. Don't let
GrovelBot become the next victim of the Bush economy. Bzzzt.
 
Please take a moment to donate to DU right now. Thank you for your support.
 
- An automated message from the DU GrovelBot

Click here to donate.